In recent years, sophisticated terminals such as smartphones and tablet terminals for individual users are becoming popular. These terminals are equipped with a platform such as Android (Android: registered trademark) or iOS, and comprise an environment which enables the user to download and execute various applications.
Consequently, anticipated is the increase in use of integrated services of providing services to users by connecting a plurality of devices at various locations, whether indoor or outdoor, and causing the respective devices to coordinate with each other.
As conventional technology of realizing integrated services by distributing an application to a plurality of devices, known is, for example, the following conventional technology.
For instance, Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose technology referred to as “Airplay” provided by Apple Inc. in which a tablet terminal or a smartphone is caused to coordinate with a TV, and contents are displayed on the TV based on the operation of the tablet terminal or the smartphone. With this technology, the integrated service is realized by individually installing in advance a dedicated application, which configures an integrated service in which the combination of devices is fixed, in the respective devices, and executing the installed application.
Patent Document 1 discloses technology of a network gateway receiving a program from a program distribution site according to a program update request from the program distribution site or a request from the respective devices connected thereunder, and distributing the received program to the respective devices.
Nevertheless, with the technology of foregoing Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2, (1) there is a problem in that the integrated service cannot be provided to a device other than devices of a fixed combination in which the combination is known in advance; for instance, the combination of a tablet terminal and a TV. Moreover, (2) it is necessary to install, from an external network with an access point for connecting to the internet or the like, the application for realizing the integrated service in the respective devices to execute the integrated service.
Accordingly, with the technology of Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2, when the integrated service is to be realized using an ad hoc network (autonomous distributed network) in which the devices communicate with each other without going through an access point, there is a problem in that the integrated service cannot be realized unless the application for realizing the integrated service has been installed in the respective devices.
Moreover, with the technology of Patent Document 1, since the application cannot be distributed to the respective devices without going through the gateway, under an environment where the respective devices cannot be connected to a gateway, there is a problem in that the application cannot be distributed to the respective devices.
Thus, even if the application for executing the integrated service is once installed in the respective devices, when those devices are connected via an ad hoc network, there is a problem in that the integrated service cannot be executed if there is any inconsistency in the version or the like of the application that was installed in the respective devices.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-222500
Non-Patent Document 1: [online] Website of Apple Inc., [searched on Nov. 2, 2011], internet <http://www.apple.com/jp/ipad/features/airplay.html>
Non-Patent Document 2: [online] Website of Apple Inc., [searched on Nov. 2, 2011], internet <http://www.apple.com/jp/ipodtouch/features/airplay.html>